Egypt’s Healthcare Authority announced that more than 46,000 newborns underwent audiological examination in the four comprehensive health insurance governorates: Port Said, Luxor, Ismailia, and South Sinai.
This came within the president of the republic’s initiative for early detection of hearing impairment in newborns.
Examinations are conducted for children in Port Said through 26 family medicine units and centres, while examinations are conducted in Ismailia through 20 units and family medicine centres affiliated with the authority covering all parts of the governorate, while audiological examination services are provided for children through 34 family medicine centres and units in Luxor, and 11 family health units and centres in South Sinai, with a total of 91 medical facilities affiliated with the authority.
After conducting the initial examination of children, if any symptoms are proven in the newborn, he is transferred to the audiology unit of the authority in the governorates of the comprehensive health insurance, each in his governorate, with the aim of following up and evaluating the child’s condition more accurately, and then starting medical treatment.
In a statement on Tuesday, the authority pointed out that the nursing teams in the health facilities affiliated with the authority were trained to work and examine newborns during their first month by using the sound emission device and re-examination again after another week in the event that the device showed problems or hearing impairment in the newborn.
The authority’s statement noted that early detection of hearing impairment or loss avoids the child’s hearing impairment and facilitates treatment opportunities, in addition to avoiding communication problems that could cause psychological crises for the child, while undetected hearing impairment may be caused by severe infections that need treatment, and it is possible that it is caused by a genetic or genetic factor that needs to be detected very early in order to deal with it from the first months, in order to ensure the safety of communication and avoid stuttering and school delays later for children.
The authority also stressed the importance of going to health units and centres that provide early detection services for hearing impairment for newborns in the three governorates, for all newborns from the age of one day to 25 days, each in his governorate, in the interest of the safety and health of our children.
